Thursday, April 24, 2014

It's sad how little I've posted and there's absolutely no reason since I went part-time at my day job, but I've been making and selling soap like a maniac. It never ends, does it, all the different things to be tried with soap? I thought I'd share a few soaps I've made over the last week. Today I did a men's soap using indigo powder. I really felt like my colors have been anemic lately, so I took care to use a lot and ended with black which works, I guess, since the fragrance oil I used was one of WSP's top-rated man smells, Black Tie Fragrance. I was going informal blue jeans and ended up with formal black tie, but hey...great thing about soap...sometimes all you have to do is change the name. Next time, I'll remember to go lighter on the indigo.

The soap on the top left is actually a Christmas soap I've toned down for May. I've been doing home parties and my next hostess, Sue, requested this soap as her complimentary loaf. It's done in a square mold, alternating four bulls-eyes of pink rose clay, darker rose clay, and white kaolin clay. I run a chop stick though the circles drawing abstract poinsettia leaves with mica-in-oil swirled in for glam. She loves it for the scent, which I realized was an unusual blend I concocted last fall with lavendin, blood orange, clove and marjoram. The marjoram is a bit pricey, but it adds so much to the blend and Sue is worth every penny...she's one of my best and most vocal customers. One of the reasons she sings the praises of homemade soap, in addition to the usual, is that she feels it creates less, or virtually no soap scum, and matter of fact, I've noticed the same thing in my shower. Hmm...never really read much about that particular effect, but if Sue says it's true, it must be! Her home is immaculately kept, while mine...not so much these days!

The soap on the top right is my classic lemongrass lavender I made as a birthday present for Sue's husband. Per request, this batch, while not visible in the picture, includes the little lavender buds on top, grown organically last year in my little herb patch. He insists on them...he said the soap just isn't the same without them. I tried to make the last batch more contemporary sans the buds, but there was push back. I sprinkled them on gingerly this year, with a tear in my eye, since my lavender plants didn't survive the heinous polar vortex that cloaked the whole northeast. I've had those bushes for more than a decade! Waa! But....I will plant again!

The soap on the bottom right of the top picture is Love, Peace, & Happiness--60's vogue version. I love the scent blend..patchouli, orange, and lavendin essential oils with a liberal dose of sandalwood FO. I can't get enough of this scent. Since Love, Peace, and Happiness takes many forms, I change up the design every time I make it, but the name, and the scent, remain the same. Here's what it looked like in the two previous batches. The one on the left developed a horrible layer of ash which I steamed off twice, but kept returning. It didn't seem to deter customers though, as it's always a good seller, no matter what form it takes. This one was made with natural clay colorants droplet style with a hangar to lightly swirl. Now, back to Love, Peace, and Happiness--60's vogue style...do you see the little flaw on the bottom of the soap? This happens to me more than I care to admit and it's born of pure unadulterated impatience. It's the equivalent of turning an insufficiently cooled scratch cake upside down to remove it from the pan, and little pieces stick to the pan! I unmolded the soap when it was still too warm. I use a water discount, a higher percentage of hard oil, and sometimes sodium lactate, so I'm used to unmolding on the same day, but I push the envelope sometimes, and get this...flawed bars. With time, I hope to get a better grip on my impatience. Happy Soaping!